At their command he was on his knees. A thick band of leather was wrapped quickly and firmly around his neck. Another thinner strip was attached to a hook protruding from the collar. It was uncomfortable and humiliating. Iolaus reached tentatively upward, an uncontrollable response, just to have his hands slapped away by a baboon masked Amazon.

"Bad dog." she admonished, the woman and her ferret-masked partner lifting Iolaus to his feet. He was then pulled rather recklessly by Panther. The others pushed him from behind, the Amazon on his left patting him boldly on the buttocks. "A pretty one." she whispered in his ear and giggled at Iolaus' uneasy wince, "Does that bother you, little man?"

Any other time he might have took the vulgarness in stride but there was something odd, nearly inhuman in this Amazon's reedy voice. Her laugh really was ape-like. It sent a chill up Iolaus spine. He looked closely at her and for a brief moment - an unreal few seconds of time - it seemed that her baboon mask wasn't really a mask at all.

"Inside!" Panther demanded when they came to the queen's hut. She pulled hard on their captive's leash, a snapping motion which caught Iolaus off guard, causing him to lose his footing.

He fell to the straw strewn floor and looked slowly upward when hearing the swish and whimper of something near his head. He spotted a dangling bare foot. Iolaus looked up a little further and took in what was once a firm, shapely leg. Yet, now it was marred with cuts, bruises and dripped blood. Alarmed, Iolaus reared back and took in the entire image. It was a woman, another warrior from the looks of her, her hands tied above her matted auburn head, left to hang. She had been very recently beaten, her entire body a mass of welts, burns and bruises. Iolaus heard a strange gurgle and saw droplets of blood trickling from her mouth. All her teeth were missing. She was dying.

"We needed information and she was being stubborn." a mature voice startled Iolaus and he tore his eyes from the suspended form. The Amazon queen, standing on an altar, wore rich satiny robes. Her half-mask was that of a peacock and Iolaus was immediately reminded of Hera. Slowly, exhibiting polish and power with every movement, she walked down a few steps, the long feathers of her mask swaying gently in response to the motion, "This young woman is called Mieka and she's from Ephiny's tribe, a Melosan. We asked very politely that she tell us who their new leader is and where we can find her. Unfortunately, the girl fought us for awhile ..." Peacock gestured for Panther to release Iolaus' leash. Her eyes drifted over to another Amazon with a sharp pronged whip.

The torturer had been Tiger, the warrior who confronted Iolaus in the forest.

" ... but eventually she told us her returning queens name: Gabrielle. She even gave us a detailed description."

"Gabrielle." Iolaus couldn't help repeating the name, shock clearly registering in his expression. He knew the bard was an Amazon Princess. She told him all about her right of cast - the privileges and responsibilities of her appointment - but never did Gabrielle say anything about being an Amazon *queen*. When had this happened?

"With a little more persuasion we'll get even more information." Peacock folded her hands and looked up at the hanging Amazon. Her lips were curved in an indulgent smile, almost as if she were a proud mother staring up at her semi obedient daughter. She then turned back to Iolaus, "So you see, we don't really need you anymore. I think we can get all the facts we need from Mieka here."

Iolaus continued to stare, waiting for more. There was always more.

"However," The queen redirected her full attention to their captured, "some of my people have grown fond of you. They want you alive awhile longer. You see, the man we currently have in camp is quickly getting used up. Gusaus doesn't perform as well as he once did." She dragged her lower lip thoughtfully through naturally white teeth. Her eyes were now looking into his as Iolaus got to his feet, "I blame it on drink but we had to give him something worth living for." Then, "Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Iolaus said, his visage deceptively passive. "I get it."

"Good." she nodded, "You will be well taken care of as long ..."

With a swiftness that took all by surprise, Iolaus reach to the hip of a distracted Tiger, where her dagger rested, and pulled with all his might. The Amazon Queen backed up as a whip snaked out and slapped Iolaus viscously across his vested shoulders. He could feel the cloth separate and his skin being torn. The pain was horrible but he had other more pressing things on his mind.

"Stop!" The queen demanded.

Iolaus approached the hanging Amazon and, with one well placed slash, cut her loose. The woman landed on her feet and to his amazement did not crumple to the ground or into his embrace, although he would have understood if she had. Her wide eyes stared deeply into his own and she opened her toothless mouth as if to say something, but no words were uttered. But those eyes ... He was stunned by something frightening he saw in them. A desperation, fear and dismay. Terror. Anger. Insanity. All those emotions were there and he saw them in the space of four or five seconds.

Mieka's hands were down, still tide together, but she knew what she had to do. With a scream, she punched outward at Iolaus, striking him in the upper chest and grasped the dagger in her own hands.

"What are you ...?!" Iolaus shouted from his location on the floor.

Tiger was on him immediately, positioning a spear at Iolaus throat, "Get her!"

The other Amazons surrounded Mieka but they were powerless. She knew what she intended to do the moment the dagger came into her hands - "Ifisus!" she shouted, "Ifisus delnusus carpe stiseum!" And she plunged the dagger into her own abdomen, "Queen Gabrielle ... Nissius te ..." she whispered as she collapsed onto the partially carpeted floor.

Peacock stared silently at the Amazon as she lay dead. She then looked over at Iolaus. "You are far more trouble than you're worth." she said angrily but with an odd sense of diplomacy, "I'm afraid punishment is necessary. Amazons ..." she directed her warriors, "Take him to the arena of public punishment. Torture him well but make certain he remains alive. Now that our source has been eliminated we need him for much more than mere entertainment." Elegantly, she turned from her warriors - from those who would do the dirty work (which included burying the body) - and their prisoner, walking into another room attached to the hut.

Iolaus continued to stare, even as he was dragged to his feet, at the dead Amazon. The words she spoke were an old language, he knew, but significant for reasons he didn't understand. Perhaps it was his fault she was now dead. If it was ...

Panther grasped a hand full of Iolaus golden hair in her hands and pulled his head viscously backward, forcing him to look directly at her superior.

Tiger brought her masked face close to his, "My companions wanted you dead when we cornered you in the forest but *I* saved your life. Is this how you repay me?" Her teeth suddenly gritted as she spoke, strain in the Amazon's voice - "If I accidentally kill you during torture no one will ever know it was on purpose." The Amazon nearly purred.

That frightened Iolaus. Not so much the anticipation of possible death but that Tiger genuinely did purr and, like Baboon before her, what was supposed to be a mask, something to hide her identity, suddenly seemed too real.

**********

They had managed to penetrate the camp's substantial security without detection but Ephiny, never one to believe in good fortune too easily, kept her eyes trained above, anticipating any odd move or possible strike.

From their hiding place behind the shield of a large over-turned tree, the three Melosan Amazons watched village activity. They saw the masked warriors gathering together, bringing younger Amazons - some just reaching impressionable teen years and not yet masked - to an event of great interest and education.

Trista, crouching by Gabrielle's side, watched as the blond hunter was pulled from a large hut in the middle of the Amazon village by three tall, well armed warriors. "He's the one?" she questioned and at Gabrielle's curt nod allowed a smile, "He's cute. I can see why he's important to you."

Gabrielle was tempted to admonish her young associate. She had wanted to travel alone but the Melosan council over-ruled their queen's demand. Gabrielle was surprised to find from Ephiny that they could do that. 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' she had said. Gabrielle would remember that line and one day might even pass it on to another.

The pretense was simple. Queen Gabrielle would give herself up to this tribe in exchange for Iolaus and Mieka's freedom. There would be scoffing and ridicule - Gabrielle even anticipated being roughed up - but in the end, when it was announced she had valuable information to impart, the enemy Amazons would do as she insisted.

Queen would meet queen. Discussions would take place. Perhaps Gabrielle would even learn something about the way this Amazon tribe worked, to arm the Melosans against possible future attacks. More than anything she wanted to know their motivation. Why the masks? Why so unrelenting? Why no cooperation with other Amazon's outside their tribe? Why make enemies when there was strength in numbers?

A carefully scripted story would tell the opponent warriors where they could find riches beyond their imaginations. When a tribe was combatant greed, wealth and power usually followed suit. Gabrielle just needed enough time to stall, to get Iolaus and Mieka to safety, then Tamara and the other Melosan warriors - who were waiting for Ephiny's signal on the opposite side of the forest - would storm the encampment.

Now Gabrielle looked carefully at Iolaus from the distance which separated them. He hadn't changed. Despite the situation and the obvious duress he was under, Iolaus appeared strong and as handsome as she remembered him when last they were together ... in Bodega. She gulped slightly, shaking off the warm memory of their last days together. Now was certainly not the time to dwell on their past.

"Where do you think they have Mieka?" Trista asked.

A reply to the question was interrupted when a sudden rush of action erupted within the village. The hunter, obviously not resigned to whatever the fates decreed, was using his considerable skills to break free from his enslavers. Amazons, wielding whips, swords and staffs were flying and falling about the arena as if they were rag dolls. As his legs kicked out Iolaus hands reached upward to tear the cursed collar from his neck. Liberated, he tossed it away and fought all the harder.

Swords slashed at Iolaus, one nicking him at his temple, but he was able to dodge them for the most part, tumbling backward and forward with remarkable dexterity.

"I say we bag our plan for now and help our queen's boyfriend." Trista suggested with a gleam in her eyes. Already she was fingering the staff which lay at her side as if it were a trusted friend.

"What, you mean just rush right in there?" Ephiny asked, her eyes darting from the girl to Gabrielle, "We're out-numbered.".

A scream, a sound that was hardly human, came from the crowd. They watched as an Amazon with a tiger's mask lashed out with her whip. It caught Iolaus across the arm, causing a nasty red mark. Yet, he managed to catch the whip's tail with a firm hand and refused to let go. This made his Amazon attacker even more furious and her snarl, as if from a genuine tiger, became eerily pronounce.

"Sometimes you just have to improvise." Gabrielle commented and pulled seis from her boot holsters as she stood to her full height, "It never was that great of a plan anyway."

With a warrior cry that would have made Xena proud, Gabrielle and her companions joined Iolaus in battle.

*********

((Onto Chapter 6))